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Chapter 7

"Oh man, there's a storm coming again. Guess we can't take any risk near the cliffs."

Hearing that, Lilac went out from the carriage and saw a big cluster of cloud forming from the west. For the last five days since they went out from the town, they were journeying on rough terrain and inclining roads, even to the point Albreich's carriage wheel must be changed once after three days on rocky paths. Yet now, they had reached a position where it would be very dangerous to proceed, especially in rainy situation.

The path was inclined enough to make Albreich's horses panted in exhaustion, requiring Ifrit to help pushing from behind. The hellhound had immense strength, but after pushing on the inclined cliff path, even a strong being must take a little rest, yet with his help, they managed to reach a high wide road. Now, they problem was the storm.

"We can't stay in the open like this," said the trader when putting wheel holders. "The rocks will become slippery for the horses and we won't be able to go without breaking my carriage."

"Wait, in my place of origin there are caves at the side of the mountain. Let me try to climb the path first."

As Ifrit walked up the path, Lilac said, "Albreich, are you sure you can trust him?"

"Relax, Lily, he's as good as a pet dog. Having that kind of a hound around can be good enough for us."

"He's still a hellspawn," said Lilac with a hard tone on the 'hellspawn'. "How can you trust him? What if he calls his friends and attacks us? We can't help each other like this."

"But you're a werewolf yourself, right?"

"This is a different matter altogether, Albreich. I...I can't believe everyone feels like nothing has happened around the hellhound."

"Because nothing ever happened around him, Lilac, so don't be suspicious around him."

"You weren't there when his friends attack me." Then the Lycan sighed, but her tone had lessened. "Albreich, I feel his heart felt something that isn't his from the start. He's getting our emotions aside from instinct. That hellhound starts to think with feelings."

"Isn't that a good thing? Normal hellhounds are savage beasts, but he exhibits many things not seen by normal ones. He's trying to betray his own race, my dear, and that's why he's so willing to help both of us. I don't know who or what train him to become like that, but he won't be a menace, for now."

Hearing that, Lilac didn't want to try to argue, as the hellhound they were talking about came back and talked to Albreich about finding a nice cave to stay. While Lilac wasn't sure, Albreich felt sure as he was a better adventurer. They set a small camp in the shelter of the cave as the first drops of the rain came down upon them, making them wet for a while. They dried up themselves with the fire they made while watching the pouring rain at the cave opening.

As Ifrit tasted the rain, Lilac made a tea for both her and Albreich from a folded wooden chair somehow reserved for a picnic, where with crackers, bread, and dried fruit accompany them in the tea time that time of the day.

The Lycan watched as the hellhound just sat at the cave opening and watched the seemingly drowned scenery, oblivious on her own watch. She knew deep down, something told her that Ifrit wasn't a typical hellhound as she always read as a monstrosity and un-canine like. This one looked like a shy upright Lycan with long prehensile tail, red reptilian eyes, and horns. But overall, it was as if she was looking to a good-looking Lycan, not a demon....

"Wait, Lilac, no. He's a demon. He can coax you to exploit your weakness to be his slave. I cannot let him do that," she thought it to herself. "He's merely a sleek Lycan, that's all."

"Hmm? Hey, Lily."

This statement jumped her into her senses. She turned to where the source of the voice and said, "Yes?!"

"Come into the carthouse. I've something to show you."

Lilac nodded before following the trader into the cart. Their mats weren't tidied yet, but something Albreich wanted to give Lilac was stored somehow in a cabinet full of maps and scrolls of some sort. With the untidiness Lilac could say this wasn't a place for keeping trading goods. The man then pulled a scroll, somehow ragged, unlike the other scrolls, and handed it to Lilac.

"It's for you. I bought this at the station before this pass. Open it," said Albreich.

When Lilac opened it, it made shimmering pale blue color akin to a lightning, where she recognized the symbol engraved on the scroll. She knew the scroll she was holding was an expensive moon indicator. The shimmering pale blue color indicated that she was a Lycan, and the concentrated light on a full circle was because that night was a full moon.

"Maybe you'll need to stay at the back of the cave," said Albreich. "You know, for a private time?"

"I understand. It's better Ifrit and you don't know how I change," she replied with a solemn place. "Can you reason with the hellhound? He never saw a Lycan transformation before. I don't want to wake his bestial part."

"What do you mean?"

"If you're one of the canine-morph races and still in an age fit for mating, you will understand what I mean, Albreich. I don't want the hellhound to know that I'm a Lycan. He may be an unusually nice hellhound, but you must understand that he's a spawn of hell. No spawn of hell can stay like that for a long time, and there will be time we must take action against him."

"Lilac, he's just a young naïve hellhound. What, do you think he'll disembowel you like a savage dog? He never barred his teeth against us, and he is but a hound oblivious of the new environment."

"Like I said, Albreich, you weren't there that night!" said Lilac raising her tone. "What do you know about him? If a hellhound lies to you, what will you do when it is too late to realize it?"

Albreich didn't immediately reply that. Lilac did have a good reason to tell him of an experience before their first meeting. He was still stunned and still thinking about the statement as Lilac went out of the cart with a hurried pace. When he saw his pocket watch he realized it was almost dinner time, yet 'almost' for Lilac as she knew that night was another private night for a Lycan.

He just made a sigh and scratched his head before closing the cabinet and walked outside. The storm had calmed to a small snow, where Ifrit was standing in the middle of the snow watching the sky with a stare of wonder. Albreich still felt strange that a hellhound that acted more like a pet dog would be betraying them to the more common hellhounds. Yet, he also knew Lilac was right in her own rights.

"Ifrit, come into the cave, will you? It's not good to be under a snowfall."

The hellhound heard what the trader said and went in, tail flaying around behind him. Somehow he wondered why the hellhound felt excited other than hellish matters was, but he didn't want to ask him about it.

"Hey, want some snacks? You didn't eat anything since the start of the pass. Are you hungry?"

"Hungry? I don't eat those."

Since any books that talked about demons had vague information to prevent demonic curse to come upon the frail soul upon the humans, many wouldn't want to peer deeper into their lives, especially their diet. But since he saw Ifrit ate steaks without any complains, he could saw he got a normal carnivorous diet akin to a wolf.

"Well, figures," said Albreich with a chuckle. He ate the cracker and took a sip before saying, "The people in this region have a unique kind of meal time. This is what they call tea time. In my place of origin, we don't follow that culture. Just bread, a sausage we call wurst, and an onion for lunch. It's a nice food, but I'm far from home, and I'm a wandering trader. Maybe one day if you want to go to the northern region I'll treat ya of it, if you want to."

"Is onion good?"

"Uhm, about that.... In my region, onions, especially garlics, are used for demonic repellants. Many people believe that they kill demon races, but otherwise used for good charm and food."

"Oh...maybe I should try one."

"I don't really want if what they say is true. You're too nice for me to call you a demon."

"Oh, but I am not always a kind one. It's because of the nature all demons had, I can become a violent one," said Ifrit while hiding his solemn face. "I just want to live like a mortal, out from the savage lives down in (hell)."

"Don't really want to talk about your life before, though. Ifrit...do you know anything about using a sword?"

"I hate those."

"Guess you rely more on your claws to survive, huh? Why do you feel like you don't want to be like the other hellhounds? Look, now you're up here, in a world where you can lay waste. What changed you to be some kind of a nice dog? Why are you rebelling against the hellhounds?"

Ifrit didn't see at his eyes. Albreich wasn't sure if he was trying to avoid the question or being distracted by the snow, but the man turned his head to face the man's eyes. But before he could talk more, he realized the anthropomorphic demon dog had an expression of a sad dog while trying to avoid his eyesight. The trader didn't want to push much, though he said, "Ifrit, what's wrong? Is there something you don't want to..."

"It's alright...."

Then Ifrit asked Albreich to let him go. The hellhound didn't try to stare at the human's eyes. He just talked everything that poured out from his maws. Lilac heard his confession also after finishing her dinner preparation.

"I didn't live like a common hellhound," said Ifrit. "I was actually raised, unlike the other hellhounds I met in the city of Drundas. Most hellhounds never had any other feelings aside from instinct and hunger, and they will try to eat the others to survive if there are no more souls to be eaten. (Cannibalism) is one of the reasons why my race is the lowest of all demons. Survival to the fittest, as you all said.

"I don't have any recollection when I was a (pup), but what I really remember was that for some years I was being raised by a warrior and studied a little of your language from him and his companion. This warrior was somehow mute, but he taught me how to write a little. His (dravern) companion talked to me in both (hordo) and English. They raised me and taught me the direct opposite of the one other hellhounds are learning, yet my instinct of survival gave me the knowledge of (improvisation)."

"Why do you end up on the surface world?"

"I don't remember much. There was a fire, and many hellhounds fought each other. There were deaths and those dangerous swords. I lost consciousness as a sword almost struck me, then I woke up in Lilac's house."

"Hmm...are you sure you aren't lying about all of this? Because everything you said is unbelievable, in mortal context, of course."

"If you don't believe me that much, then why are you taking me with you? I have this weird...feeling, about how you all get so nice to me and I don't want to disappoint all of you, but...mortals can't be trusted either. He said that to me."

"We won't harm you in any way if you don't harm us or betray us to them, okay? Eye for an eye."

"Eye for an eye...."

"It's a trade term. You give something, you make sure you get something. Got it? Okay, so, let's start eating. I'm getting hungry just by talking to you."

As the night came, Lilac quickly finished her food, and she excused herself to the dark portion of the cave where in the night her eyes became very sharp. Albreich made a nod when she turned her head. She saw the trader asked Ifrit to take the plates to a water stream not far from the carriage, as the place was very spacious. Lilac just made a smile while thinking if Ifrit was true about his past, and if he was as harmless as he said. She couldn't think much when the full moon was high on the sky and she started her transformation painfully as her bones were magically changed into that of a canine's. But this time, unlike the usual hunched werewolf she always turned into, she concentrated herself long enough to divert the curse. Instead of making her a wolf-morph, she wanted that night's transformation to be that of a feral wolf, but doing so gave her a very great pain as most of her body parts were modified drastically. As hands became paws and bone structures became a canine's she held herself not to make a painful scream so as not to make Albreich worried and Ifrit curious.

With her transformation completed, she was now a man-sized wolf with black fur covering her body. She saw her own paws and snout. Her transformation made her shorter, but she knew wolves weren't as upright as humans did.

She explored the dark portion of the cave, where she found a stream of fresh water. The Lycan still had her own habits in human form, like cleaning her maws using her front paw, knowing that they weren't hands. When she had enough of the refreshing water she wanted to know if Albreich had taken care of her absence, but she was relieved when the trader was drinking a cup of coffee in front of a bonfire with Ifrit nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Ifrit?" said Lilac to the trader, not knowing that the trader didn't know about the wolf form and gasped. It took mere seconds to make him realize that the voice was Lilac's, as in her upright wolf form she had a different voice.

"Oh, he's asleep in the carriage. I asked him to sleep for the night as I convinced him that it's safe for the night."

Lilac then laid down beside him. "Then, how about my absence?"

"I told him that Lilac wanted to fetch some water at the back. Do you find some?"

"There's a stream of fresh water if you want to refresh yourself for a moment."

"Oh I can wait for that. I'm quite surprised that there's a wolf form in a Lycan transformation."

"It is. A Lycan has three forms. The human form is what you always see, but when the full moon struck I'll be forced to change into one of the remaining two forms. The upright form was the monstrous one you always know, but this one can only be achieved with greater sacrifice and devotion to the power of the moon. It's like how you say become with the moon goddess."

"Oh..., what a unique curse you have."

"Maybe. Me and my brother are trying to find a cure to this...curse. I've been living in a place where they hate wolves, especially humanoid wolves."

"Well, of course no one wants to have a bear-sized wolf walking around like normal, right?" said Albreich while patting the wolf's head, making her growl slowly with the soothing movement. She then sat upright with her romp sitting in a manner of a human's, which surprised Albreich.

"Oh, look at that. No wolves can sit like that."

"I'm still retaining my humanity after all. Maybe I'll keep watch for the night, in case there are poachers around."

"You don't need to, Lilac. You're still a woman, after all. I'll keep watch for the night."

"Don't worry. I have trouble sleeping when Lycanthropy is taking my whole energy. I don't really use them in hunting, so of course it is preserved. You're still a human, Albreich, so please do take a rest."

"Okay, then. Anyway, nice fur. It's so soft. You're still pretty despite of being in this size, Lilac."

"O-oh, but I'm a beast...."

"I like to be in a company of wolves. I don't care if it is a demonic humanoid wolf, a werewolf, or a real one, as long as they don't be a threat, I will love to be around. Wolves are social animals, and I hope you do, too."

The last sentence made Lilac lost her own words before Albreich made a smile and went inside the carriage to sleep. She then watched the bonfire for a while, before getting out from the cave into the snowy exterior, where her black fur was whited as the result of the snow.

"I feel like a black in the middle of the white," thought Lilac. "I don't know how I can trust the hellhound despite of Albreich trusting him. Ifrit can be a kind one, yes, but he hasn't proved himself to be a help instead of a threat. There are many things I do not know about this world, both in this realm or beyond."